"Kain had other matters to attend to," Vorador mentioned quietly. "I should attend to my own concerns."
"Sorry it took me so long to have you aged again," I sighed.
Vorador shook his head. "It was a difficult puzzle. I doubt that any of us could have found that answer at all."
"Either too much patience or not enough," I murmured, imagining.
"Don't leave them alone together for too long," Vorador said, speaking of Janos and Raziel. In a flash of green light, he vanished.
Despite Vorador's concerns, I doubted that either Janos or Raziel would now try to harm the other. I avoided the main hall for a while, instead opting to run post-arc damage control. The floors were already digesting the muddy footprints, while the walls were slowly beginning to heal. I still had to sweep up most of the broken toys and other debris, but that was a minor task.
I wandered into the bedrooms. They were already reverting to their medieval styles, though they still showed signs of being used by children. It would take even longer for the rooms to resume their generic forms after being used by the same people for so long. The bedrooms changed to suit the needs of their occupants.
I encountered one room that wasn't settling as quickly as the others. The bed was rumpled, and the window hung open. "Ack, Malek," I suddenly swore. I had completely forgot about the paladin, and it was obvious that he had escaped through the window.
Janos had left already when I came back downstairs. For the moment, Raziel stayed in the material realm.
"How'd it go?" I asked softly.
Raziel didn't speak for several moments. I was about to turn away in deferral to his privacy when he said, "We might be able to rekindle our old friendship, but it won't be as it was. For now, we are simply not enemies."
"Oh," I breathed, feeling nothing but sympathy for Raziel's exposed secret.
"He doubts that he was directly responsible for my mother's death. At most, it was the work of one of his children," Raziel continued. "However, he does remember killing another Sarafan that bore a resemblance to me."
"Your biological father?" I asked.
"It is possible," Raziel shrugged. "He knew what his lifespan would be. We all did."
I nodded without meaning to. I did feel that it was best that Raziel didn't seem to be bitter about that part of his past.
"I hate to add to your problems, but Malek is confused and lost," I sighed. "I'm all for leaving him to his own devices at this point."
"There's nothing out there that he can't handle," Raziel wearily agreed. "We will get a chance to rest, won't we?"
"The muse has run off," I smirked. I turned serious and said. "I doubt that we'll have any excitement until one of us tracks it down."
"Not it," Raziel growled, still retaining traces of the muse-granted knowledge.
"Later," I agreed, knowing that some boring time would be good for all of us.
Many of the muse powers had never been of great importance to Raziel. He only bore that burden for the sake of his appearance. I sensed that Raziel would again consume the dragon and wear its scales, but only eventually.